1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates generally to audio transcription systems used to record audio transcripts of court proceedings and the like, and more particularly, to a computer-based digital audio transcription system that eases the task of recording and copying such transcripts.
2. Description of the Relevant Art
It has long been customary during court proceedings and administrative hearings to record written transcripts of such proceedings with the help of a court stenographer for later review and reference. In recent years, many courtrooms have switched to audio transcript recordings; in such instances, a stenographer need not be present during the proceedings. Judges or attorneys desiring a copy of the audio transcript are provided with copies of the recorded audio track, which can be transcribed into a written transcript at a later date, if necessary.
The first such audio transcript recording systems relied upon magnetic tape as a recording medium. One or more microphones are placed around the courtroom to pick up the voices of the judge, attorneys, and witness. The microphones are connected to a mixer/pre-amplifier which feeds a magnetic tape recorder for recording one or multiple audio tracks on the magnetic tape. Copies can later be made by playing back the recorded tape and “dubbing” the audio tracks onto a new blank tape. Such systems are generally disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 3,798,387 to Gallagher, Jr., and in U.S. Pat. No. 3,879,751 to Gimelli.
Efforts have been made to integrate court reporting systems with computers. For example, in U.S. Pat. No. 4,924,387 (reissued as Re. 35,658) discloses a computerized court reporting system wherein a computer is used to operate and index a video cassette recorder (VCR) used to record both audio and video tracks on magnetic video tape. U.S. Pat. No. 5,426,510 to Meredith discloses an audio-video system for use in a courtroom wherein a logic controller selectively couples certain microphones and video cameras to a series of video cassette recorders.
All of the foregoing court reporting systems rely-upon the use of magnetic tape. Magnetic tape has certain inherent disadvantages. First, it often binds in the recording/playback equipment, which can result in the loss of all or portions of the recorded proceedings. Secondly, it is difficult to accurately index magnetic tape; while magnetic tape recording/playback equipment often includes a tape counter, such counters are notoriously unreliable. It takes a relatively long time to physically move from one portion of the tape to a different portion of the tape, as by rewinding or fast-forwarding, when searching for a desired portion. In addition, the process of making duplicate tapes requires the “dubbing” procedure described above. Moreover, the quality of audio signals recorded on magnetic tape degrades with time. Furthermore, the record and playback heads of conventional magnetic tape recording equipment require frequent maintenance to ensure satisfactory results.
In some instances, a judge or one of the attorneys may need to hear prior testimony, or prior argument, played back. When magnetic tape is used to record the proceedings, then the tape must be stopped, rewound to the relevant portion, and played back. The tape must then be fast-forwarded back to the point where the tape was stopped before proceedings can continue. Apart from the delay that this procedure necessitates, no record of the proceedings can be made during the time that the tape is being rewound, played back, and fast-forwarded back to the remaining blank portion of the tape.
More recently, audio transcription systems have been introduced that digitize audio signals. U.S. Pat. No. 5,369,704 to Bennett, et al., and assigned to Engate Incorporated of Chicago, Ill., discloses, in one embodiment, a court reporting system wherein an analog voice signal generated by a microphone is converted, via an analog-to-digital converter circuit, to a series of digital values to generate a written transcript. Digital audio signals can be stored in the memory of a computer, e.g., in the form of a “.wav” file, so-named because such digital audio computer files often have the file extension “.wav” at the end of the file name. Some known digital audio transcription systems operate to store digital voice signals via a computer.
While movement of audio recording toward digital audio offers much potential, it also introduces a host of new problems. Computer files stored in the memory of a computer can easily become corrupted due to either hardware problems or software problems, rendering such files worthless, and potentially costing the loss of hours of courtroom proceedings. Moreover, computerized audio transcription systems have the appearance of being complicated and overwhelming to many court reporters and court clerks; for example, they often have trouble determining when they are monitoring an ongoing recording as compared with playing back an earlier recording. Moreover, a user seeking to locate relevant digital audio files stored in the memory of a computer often find it difficult to locate all of the files that belong to a particular recording session. Even when such files are all located, it is still a burden to find the particular file containing a desired portion of the transcript; once the proper file is found, the length of such file may make it difficult to find a particular portion contained therein for playback.
Accordingly, it is an object of the present invention to provide a digital audio transcription system which eliminates the need for reliance upon unreliable magnetic tape.
It is another object of the present invention to provide such a transcription system which allows instant access to any specific recorded audio segment by indexing such audio segment with the time at which such segment was recorded.
Still another object of the present invention is to provide such a transcription system which can easily produce highly-stable archival copies of a transcript for long-term storage.
Yet another object of the present invention is to provide such a transcription system which can easily be used to create complete transcript copies for judges or attorneys at the end of each day's proceedings, but which can also be used to quickly and easily create custom-ordered transcripts that provide only those portions of the proceedings which were carried out between preselected starting and stopping times.
A further object of the present invention is to provide such a transcription system that can be controlled by a single user under the control of a simple personal computer.
A still further object of the present invention is to provide such a transcription system that prevents a user from being confused as between controlling recording operations as compared with controlling playback/copying operations.
An additional object of the present invention is to provide such a transcription system that allows for playback of previously recorded proceedings while continuing to record the proceeding during such playback period.
These and other objects of the present invention will become more apparent to those skilled in the art as the description of the present invention proceeds.